Long-awaited smartphones powered by Intel chips should launch in 2011, the
manufacturer has announced

The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show is likely to be the first showcase for mobile phones powered by new Intel chips. Although the company has already show-cased a chip codenamed Moorestown, CTO Justin Rattner told Wired.com that the January show “would clearly be the window of opportunity for us”.

Intel’s absence from the smartphone market is in stark contrast to the company’s dominance of the desktop and laptop PC market. It is, however, establishing a position in the burgeoning tablet computer category. Rattner cited the number of tablet’s shown at Taiwan’s recent Computex event that were based on Intel chips.

The Moorestown chip aims to offer increased power efficiency, while also offering sufficient processing power to run applications that demand intensive video capabilities. Battery life is now acknowledged to be a major issue for new smartphones, and increases in processor efficiency may help to address the problem.

British company Arm currently dominates more than 90 per cent of the smartphone market, with its products sold through Qualcomm and other organisations and powering devices made by Motorola and HTC. Intel has, however, already announced a partnership with Nokia, and hopes that its Moorestown chips will power tablets, too. Rattner, however, added that “with tablets, their utility remains to be seen - the first generation of tablets including are missing some important things. The absence of a camera is especially baffling in the iPad.”